midalake

16 minutes ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Once all of this stuff has settled Dew and I see how the 8 does  I "may" have a 10 made...

Dew has an AQ??? 

 Where is an "order form" to get a custom coil made? How does that work? 😲

18 minutes ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Every beach is different so I am sure your right where you hunt. And I agree, when you got that small coil it seems like your swinging a hockey puck. Those were my thoughts walking out the door with the small 7.5 excalibur coil.....😬..But for some reason I did fairly well with it........So the size you think would be best for you would the 9.5? 

I will agree every beach is different and someone is reading this thinking I have two heads. 😁  I personally would not even consider a coil 12" or over, have not even owned a 12" coil in 15-20 years. There have been several detectors I have not purchased because there were no coils less than 12" 

9.5" to 11" would be my preferred size. I am with water contact on every hunt. This size of coil transitions well going into the water and doing wet sand. 

Dave

2 minutes ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

I don't think it is to small for I remember years ago when I did hunt the ocean the Excalibur 800 with the 7.5 inch coil did as well as the stock 10 on finding gold. But one thing for sure,..... in my head I always wanted to grab the 10 first thinking it would be better..

Ah Joe. Anything less than a 10 inch coil and it feels like I am out there with a teaspoon. 

To be honest. I feel a 12.5" and 8" coil at the beach are both worthless for me. There is just no way to sugar coat it. 😒

4 hours ago, Rick Kempf said:

One thing worth mentioning is that there WILL be an 8” coil for the AQ. I expect to have concrete information on availability and price within a couple of weeks (I hope)

8" coil is just too small for the beach. Thoughts should be put to toward a 9 1/2" 

Thanks Dave

1 hour ago, cdv said:

I know this machine will be great on the wet sand but in the summer, I'm in the water nearly 100% due to the heat....I need a machine I can use in the water!

Cliff

I don't want to hijack anything. But not only "Salt water" but MOVING Salt Water! Wave wash. 

On 8/11/2020 at 4:51 PM, jimpugh said:

Does not like heavy surf must be calm or your in for a long ride

Can you elaborate on what your comment means?

Thanks

13 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I just came back from a night hunt.  I went back to a beach where I had been with my son in the morning and found one of his lost toys.  That was a good sign.  I walked a couple of miles patch hunting with the 15" coil on my 800.  I found penny patches and an ear lobe ring but it was pretty slow.  On my return trip I got a few quarters and one earring.  I had still enjoyed my 3 hours.  I got back to the area where we had been in the morning and took a little break.  When I resumed I walked about 10 feet in the damp sand and got a target.  It was shallow so I carefully scooped and I got a glimmer.  It was all in the scoop.  It had balled up in the sand only about 1-2 inches deep.  It had the nice deep colors but I didn't have my glasses. (Should I take another break?  haha)  This was just over an hour ago.  I was near my starting spot and car so I got there and looked.  I couldn't read the mark so I had to use two reading glasses and a little flashlight and voila it was 18k!  I measured it at 24 inches and it weighs just over 1 troy ounce. (1.045 ozt/32.57g)  Sometimes being 'lucky' is better than being good.

Did you happen to acid check that chain? PLEASE do not take this the wrong way. But I have AT LEAST 10 chains stamped "gold" and they are not gold!  Looking at your picture "the color is off" ESP 18K

GOD, I have found SO MANY chains.   Sometimes one needs to do an acid check! Sometimes the clasps do not comply with the truth! 

55 minutes ago, Compass said:

Obviously, I did a whole lot of digging yesterday.Most of the other jewelry is costume jewelry but there are a couple of silvers in there.

WOW, you dug that all in one day?????   HOLLY. 😲

15 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Minelab SilverSaver $1299

Minelab SilverSaver Plus $1599

Minelab SilverSaver Pro $1899

Going to wait for the Saltwater GOLDSAVER!

9 hours ago, steveg said:

but I've heard from a few folks that when they have installed one of the new EQX updates, they find the machine to suddenly be extremely unstable -- and so they end up doing a "restore" or "reset" back to original settings, and then re-installing the update, and then things work properly. 

I have been saying this since update #1 !!!!!!!!!!   In which I installed it and my machine was unusable!   Did an uninstall and reinstall everything was great! 

Also do a FACTORY RESET before all installs.  [ya I know they say it is not necessary] 

No one has been posting anything about "storm finds" anywhere. Spooky quiet.

Go get em guys!!!! 

8 hours ago, mn90403 said:

My experience has been that many targets sound 'better' and that is not always good.  Maybe I will have to use some iron bias which I do not now.

I can elaborate on IB. Because the 1,2 and 5 peso coin rings in ferrous from -3 to -6 I run Iron bias of 4-5. This keeps these coins in check for falsing. 

My other saved program that I use for checking "iffy" signals has an Iron bias of zero. 

Anytime I go to my other program I ask myself, am I digging this target or not?  Out of all the times I been undecided and then checking with the other program. NOT ONCE have I found a target of worth.  

Now there is not a huge amount of targets that change my mind when I look with the second program, but still an accurate summary of actual events. 

The Equinox is a very powerful discriminator. One needs to trust the machine! 

I like this "imagine" game.  

Imagine a day where a test for a detector on gold,  USES GOLD!  🤣

15 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

But day in and day out water hunting the coil ears can't take the load and water intrusion is always going to be a concern.  Always have a backup.

I think you responded before my edit?  I see the picture of the control head Okra posted it appears the molded in, knurled  pieces that pulled out and the most damaged were from the part that is away from the user. 

Which would have more stress holding the machine up, or pulling the machine up from water.  So yup, I think more of this will surface. 

50 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Dave - with all the beach hunting you do in the surf, does your control head/battery compartment  look as corroded as okara's?

Mine was not when I had it replaced.  Too rough by me to go in the water. So the control head will only be splashed. 

I am going to guess by looking at the picture, much of that damage looks like torque  on the unit. It is the reason I do not use my unit as a grip, but installed a padded hand grip right in front of the control head.
Going to say torque on the case probably causes some of the water infiltration as well. 

I fully expect to see more issues like this from beach hunters. 

You broke it GOOD!!!!  

39 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

I've never been much of a fan of nylon myself, as it stretches and is so soft it damages easily. 

I kind of used Nylon as a generic term [but I get it] .  However the Nox bolts being 5/16, I have never had issues with 5/16 nylon? I also double nut! 

As some know I broke a coil ear. So I have modified a coil to more durable specifications. Like all my coils this one is able to be used without a coil cover, which is important for water/beach hunting. 

I have done three different steps:  1. I removed the middle cross brace [the coil is over braced!] 2. Epoxied on a coil support piece, followed by epoxying a side plate on each side made out of a piece of plastic wheel barrel. 3. Adding shoe good to the underside open portions of the coil and epoxying the actual coil spots. 

Coil weight before project. 16.15 oz, Coil weight after project 16.16   Weight loss of middle brace and coil cover: 2.82oz.

Never having black sand , water weight or EARS THAT WILL BREAK, priceless! 

Here is a,  did you know. Did you know the coil bolt can hold about a tablespoon of sand/dirt. Tip: Get rid of it and go to a nylon bolt! 

14 hours ago, Raphis said:

There are numerous sources of EMI. My cellphone is attached around my waist while I detect, and I have not noticed any erratic issues with my machine, even though I have read that noise can be generated by cellphones in short bursts that can affect detectors..

 Well a little incite on my EMI experience. I did not know what EMI was until I got an Equinox. 

I can not tell you how many cell phones I have heard while working the beach. I swear everyone has one. Sometimes I can hear the pulses 40-50 feet away. 

Tom has just spoke recently about "silent EMI" I do believe my location has this effect as well.  My machine seems to run great, however I can hear pulses on recovery of a target. [Esp in All Metal]  In this particular area of the beach  my recovery rate, target ID and and depth all seem be be affected. 
I will be very interested to get back to this beach with the new update!

Not sure keeping a cell phone on while you are hunting is a good idea. 

Dave

 I have searched and searched for a video of someone doing chains. Nothing?  

So everything I say is in regard to Salt Water hunting. For me, Depth with Functionality is important. 

As a younger buck, digging everything was not an issue. Now, digging everything is an impossibility. 

Personally:  Depth, with the ability to pass over some junk, and STABILITY in moving Salt Water are my goals. I like running my detector on the edge where it is a little sassy. I need a detector that will do 7 inches min on a decent size chunk in moving salt water.  Otherwise it does not matter how "nice" the detector is. 

Oh ya, and GOLD, lots of GOLD!!!!    

31 minutes ago, okara gold said:

I just installed the update. My realm of detecting is in the salt water and wet salt sand when the waves get the best of me. My hope is that one of the "various stability enhancements" might enable me to hunt with a little more sensitivity in the salt water without all the chattiness, hence a little more stability.  I'll find out tomorrow and will let you know what I think.

U speakin my language!!!!   Will check-in tomorrow! 

1 hour ago, ColonelDan said:

I could run my sensitivity up to 23 on the dry sand in Park 1 and the 800 was stable and quiet where previously 18-20 was about the limit. Even when I switched to Beach 2 in wet sand and surf, I could run the sensitivity up to about 19-20 with no problem.

WOW, Pretty significant!   

As this thread goes on, I am interested to see if there is any EMI improvement????

20 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

I have put on the other updates within 2 days of seeing them.  I'll be putting this one on too but I have to crank up another computer besides this Chromebook to do it.

I was HOPING someone that is using the new update now would tell me it is GREAT or not.  I haven't gotten any takers.

I am off my machine for a while yet so will not be of any help. For me personally, I will get back on the machine for a week. Then after being up to speed, put the install on. Should be easy to tell at that point.